​Our guest spot for March featured Tech Savvy member Ian McLeod who presented an overview of freely available entertainment sites on the internet.

From www.radiotunes.com we listened to country and classical guitar music; later comparing this site to the music play lists available on YouTube. Ian explained that streamed audio files such as those from radiotunes.com use less memory than youtube files which feature both video and audio files. Ian then demonstrated links on www.tunein.com using Edinburgh radio stations amongst others, adding that listening to Scottish radio helps him to keep his accent! Ian explained that YouTube has effectively replaced Wikipedia as his online encyclopedia, using examples drawn from the class to demonstrate its versatility in resolving problems.

‘Free Movies’ and ‘Streamed Movies’ on YouTube; the SBS On Demand movie site and the free trial version of NetFlix were all demonstrated and the use of VPN for downloading of movies briefly discussed. Class member ‘entertainment’ suggestions included ‘Spotify’, which has scope for creating playlists; watching full length classic movies such as ‘Grapes of Wrath’ or historic film footage such as Rachmaninoff playing Rachmaninoff on YouTube; subscribing to BigPond movies and entertainment packages such as ‘Stan’ and i-View.

After the break the ‘Mentors’ working group shared ideas for upcoming Tech Savvy Drop In sessions; while ‘Bloggers’ and the ‘Tech Savvies’ discussed aims and directions for their activities for the rest of the year. April’s presenter, Terry Dillon, will be discussing extending our phone/tablet skills. Topics which Terry will be discussing are accessible for preview on http://teedee.com.au/devices.

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About 'Tech Savvy Talks'

Are you reasonably ‘Tech Savvy’ and keen to continue developing your knowledge base? Then this ‘Tech Savvy’ discussion group may be of interest. Monthly sessions include viewing of topical ‘TED Talks’; presentations on topics of interest by class members or guest speakers; shared news of developments across a range of technologies such as 'robotics'; 'alternative options to baseload energy'; 'driverless cars'; 'alternative vehicles' and more. Topics discussed include developments in science as well as technology. An optional reading and discussion group meets at the Northo for coffee on the 4th Thursday at 3 pm—contact Les 5762 7600.